In honor of the surprise release of Wilco’s (pretty
fantastic) new album Star Wars, here is a reconstruction of what could have
been their fourth album--Here Comes Everybody.Eventually restructured as their 2001 masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,
the album ended up very different than the early working tapes due to shifting
band members, song arrangements and label affiliations.Compiling alternate versions from two sets of
demo discs as well as a number of studio outtakes, we are able to piece
together a less-experimental album more in-line with the band’s previous album
Summerteeth (ideally featuring more appearances of multi-instrumentalist Jay
Bennett and drummer Ken Coomer, who exited the band during this period).Some unique edits were made to make new, complete
takes;the tracks were also either
crossfaded or banded closely; and all songs are volume-adjusted to create a
cohesive listening experience.

At the end of the 20th Century, Wilco had become critical
darling in search of the ever-elusive hit single and the battle between The
Artist and The Industry had already bubbled over several times. Lead singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy desired Wilco’s
second album--1996’s Being There--to be a double album, an idea vetoed by their
label Reprise Records; a compromise was reached, in which Tweedy allowed a
significant cut of his royalties from the album which offset the label’s loss, in
order for it to be released as a double.The sprawling album that straddled alt-country and experimental-rock
gained enough critical success to warrant artistic freedom for their follow-up,
1999’s Summerteeth.Although once again
garnishing much critical acclaim for the album’s lush Pet Sounds-esque layers
as well as Tweedy’s songwriting prowess, Reprise Records didn’t hear a hit
single and demanded to create a radio-friendly
mix of “I Can’t Stand It”. Wilco acquiesced, knowing how much freedom they had been already
allowed in an era of the emergence of media oligopolies and a long list of bands
dropped from the label's roster. The song
failed to be a hit, and Wilco approached the danger zone.

Regrouping at the band’s own rehearsal space in late 2000 to
record the follow-up entirely themselves, Wilco’s fourth album at this point had
the working title of Here Comes Everybody, a reference to James Joyce’s masterpiece
Finnegan’s Wake.The ever-changing
metaphysics of Joyce’s H.C.E. character was appropriate, as the nature of
the recording sessions changed as well, moving into early 2001.While initially the songs were a second wind
of Summerteeth—solid songwriting played by a solid rock band with layers
upon layers of experimental sounds by multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett—Tweedy wished
to push the boundaries of the band itself.After spending the year with side project Loose Fur (consisting of Tweedy,
experimental producer Jim O’Rourke and drummer Glen Kotche),the more daring and sonically progressive sound
of the trio greatly informed how Here Comes Everybody would progress as
well.The first step was replacing Wilco
drummer Ken Coomer with Kotche himself.A less busy drummer who focused on unusual and homemade percussion instruments, Kotche was able to rhythmically reinterpret Tweedy’s
new songs (many already recorded) into a more exotic backbone to perpetuate
the atmosphere of the songs, in contrast to Coomer’s more traditional rock
drumming.

The second step in the evolution of Here Comes Everybody into
what we now know as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, was the song selection and mixing
process.Dropping obvious career throwbacks
(the Summerteeth-esque “A Magazine Called Sunset” or the Being There-esque “Never
Let You Down") and focusing on the songs that specifically dealt with the
curious dissatisfaction and personal alienation in an increasingly modern and technological world ensured a fresh direction for the band.Jim O’Rourke was brought in to mix the album
and much to the displeasure of the rest of Wilco, the songs were drastically stripped
to their emotional core, often leaving merely Kotche’s exotic percussion and Bennett’s
dizzying sonics.Gone was the traditional
sound of a rock band and all that remained was the strength of the songs themselves,
floating in a sea of opiate-inspired fuzzy guitars, twinkling pianos, anonymous voices and static.

Not only did the album transform, but the band itself.The behind-the-scenes battle over creative control of the band between Bennett and Tweedy had concluded
with Bennett being dismissed from Wilco, an event depicted in the documentary I
Am Trying To Break Your Heart.Yankee
Hotel Foxtrot was also the breaking point of the fragile relationship between Wilco and Reprise Records.After the band
refused to bend to label exec’s requests to “make some changes” upon hearing
the album, Reprise refused to release it and instead offered Wilco to buy-out
their contract (which included the rights to the album) for $50,000.Accepting their offer, Wilco not only bought
the rights back to the album their label refused to release, but they leaked it
themselves--streaming it on their website for free--and went public with
Reprise’s tactics.The situation—as well
as the strength of the fantastic album itself—earned a Wilco a new record deal
with the indie label Nonesuch Records, this time with complete artistic freedom.Who owned Nonesuch Records?AOL/Time Warner , the same oligopoly who
owned Reprise Records! Wilco
self-produced an album of music they wanted and essentially sold it back to the
company who refused to release it in the firstplace.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the musical turning point in the
postmodern era that embodied all the issues that artists presently face:
digital media as distribution, the effect of media oligopolies and the transfer
of power to the underdog indie artists from the dinosaur cash-cows.But in
its original incarnation as Here Comes Everybody, history could have been very
different for Wilco’s fourth album.Using
two different bootlegs of the rough and early mixes of the album (known as the
YHF Demos and the YHF Engineer’s Demos) as well as some of the outtakes which didn’t
conceptually fit, we are able to make a very different album, one that more logically
follows Summerteeth and did not create such a radical artistic shift.We will try to use as many Coomer-drummed
tracks as possible as if he hadn’t been ousted from the band (as much as we ascertain,
without knowing the specific credit of every recording).Just as well, we’ll include two
Bennett-penned tracks that were left on the cutting room floor, as if he too hadn’t
been ousted from the band.

We can begin this reconstruction of Here Comes Everybody
with the most radio-friendly song, “A Magazine Called Sunset”, taken from the
More Like The Moon EP.Although an early
mix most likely featuring Coomer on drums is found on the YHF Demos bootleg, we
will use the more polished, finished track featuring Kotche on drums.This is followed with the more rock-anthem-arranged
“Kamera” from the YHF Demos.Next, an early and very different, nearly tropicalia version of “Radio Cure“ that was
originally titled “Corduroy Cutoff Girl”.Taken from the YHF Demos, the redundant
verses are edited out for a more logical and concise song framework.Next is the fantastic piano ballad “Cars Can’t Escape”,
taken from the Alpha Mike Foxtrot boxset and followed by the very
Summerteeth-esque “The Good Part”, using the unreleased version from the YHF
Demos that seem to feature Coomer on drums.“Shakin Sugar” from the YHF Demos follows, a deeper album cut for sure
but a Jay Bennett original that would later be recorded for his only solo album
post-Wilco.“Laminated Cat” concludes
the first half of the album, a song later reimagined and recorded by Loose
Fur.Here is a straightforward
Springsteen-esque version from the YHF Demos originally titled "Not For The Season."

The second half of Here Comes Everybody follows more closely
the sequence of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, except all sourced from early mixes found
on the YHF Demos; these versions of “Ashes of American Flags”, “Heavy Metal
Drummer”, “I’m The Man Who Loves You” and “Pot Kettle Black” all demonstrate how much of an impact Jim O’Rourke was on the
sound of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by deconstructing the arrangements at crucial points
in the songs.Next is a personal
highlight for this album, the early version of “Poor Places” from the YHF Demospropelled by a barroom piano, featuring a full band and a slightly different structure.Following is an edit of two rough mixes to
create a complete take of “Venus Stopped The Train”, a song composed by Jay Bennett
around a Jeff Tweedy poem, also re-recorded by Bennett for his solo album
post-Wilco.The album closes with the
early version of “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” from the YHF Demos (which I
have stylized as “Iamtryingtobreakyourheart”) which seems to feature Coomer on
drums.Instead of being an exciting
opening track on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that sets the mood for modern disillusionment,
it becomes a confusing experimental afterthought to an already stylistically varied album.

Is Here Comes Everybody an improvement over Yankee Hotel
Foxtrot?I don’t believe it is; pushing
Wilco to new musical boundaries is a must for the band, and the album would not
have had its historical impact had it not been cutting edge and unified vision.Here Comes Everybody would certainly have been Wilco's White Album! But this reconstruction at least shows how
much Wilco did push their music at the time, how they got from point A to point B.At the very least, Here Comes Everybody
offers a more traditional option for those who like their Wilco without all the
bells, whistles and... static.